Since 1868, North Carolinians have been building monuments commemorating the
people and events of the Civil War. The first Civil War monument erected in
North Carolina is in the Cross Creek Cemetery in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Led by Ann Kyle and Maria Spear, a group of local women raised funds and
dedicated the monument on December 30, 1868. The desire to memorialize the Civil
War continues to the present day, with a statue of Confederate General Joseph E.
Johnston dedicated on private land near the Bentonville, N.C. Battlefield on
March 20, 2010.

There are also monuments to North Carolinians who fought for the Union and to
soldiers from other states. Monuments from various northern states dot the
National Cemeteries in New Bern and Salisbury and a memorial to the United
States Colored Troops stands in Hertford, North Carolina.

For almost as long as Tar Heels have been building Civil War monuments, North
Carolina historians have been trying to document and catalog them. As early as
1910, R.D.W. Connor, the first secretary of the North Carolina Historical
Commission, began writing to local historians and United Daughters of the
Confederacy (UDC) chapters asking for information on any Civil War monuments in
their area. In 1941, under the auspices of the NC Chapter of the UDC, Blanche
Lucas Smith authored a book titled North Carolina’s Confederate Monuments and
Memorials, which listed a majority of the Confederate monuments built up to
that time. In 1957, David Leroy Corbitt wrote letters to Clerks of Court in all
100 North Carolina counties asking for information on Civil War monuments in
their counties. The North Carolina Museums Council conducted a survey of outdoor
sculpture in 1994, which included many of North Carolina’s Civil War monuments.

This current survey builds on the previous ones, and in time will be the most
comprehensive listing of Civil War monuments in North Carolina. What this survey
is attempting to catalog: monuments and memorials honoring individuals, military
units, or groups of individuals’ contributions to the Civil War. This includes
the ubiquitous “standing soldier” monuments found on many courthouse lawns,
regimental monuments on battlefield sites and cemeteries, and monuments to
civilian efforts such as the monument to the North Carolina Confederate women on
the Capitol grounds in Raleigh.

What this survey is not cataloging: gravesites, Civil War Trails markers, or
historical markers erected by the North Carolina Historical Commission or the
North Carolina Office of Archives and History, or monuments to individuals where
the monument's primary focus is not the person’s Civil War service. Under these
criteria, the General Johnston monument near Bentonville is included, the
monument to Governor Zebulon Vance on the Capitol grounds in Raleigh is not
included.

This survey is a work in progress, and contributions from members of the public
are most welcome. If there is a monument not on this survey, we need the exact
location, the date when it was dedicated (if known), and a photograph. If you
have any information to add to this survey, please contact Tom Vincent at
tom.vincent@ncdcr.gov. If you submit a photograph, please indicate how you
would like to be credited. Any photographs or information submitted for this
survey will become a public record as specified in G.S. 132-1.